George F. Will | A banner conservative year

8:29 PM,
Nov. 10, 2010

Written by

George F. Will
The Washington Post

WASHINGTON - As he promised it would be, Barack Obama's presidency has been transformative, but not as he intended. Whether it lasts two or six more years, it is an exhausted volcano because its biggest consequence may already have happened: It has resuscitated the right, making 2010 conservatism's best year in 30 years - since the election of Ronald Reagan.

Republican gains were partly a result of the "shock-and-awe statism" (Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels' phrase) of the health care legislation passed in March. Seven months later, a federal judge in Florida, hearing arguments about the ...